Introduction
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
INTRODUCTION I am keenonlearningEnglishandI have always lookedfor different andnew ways of how toapproachnot onlylanguage understandingbut alsothe knowledge about Englishspeakingcountries.I am also interestedinmanycultural events suchas theatre, concerts ordancing.I was lookingfor somethingthat would connect allthesethingsand I foundit ina musical theatre.I have always beencurious about what it is like tobe an actor,toprepare for a show,tostandonthe stage andhow the actors feel whenthey hear the applause.I have never hada chance tolive this throughbut onthe suggestion of my supervisor I decided to pursue this topic and to deal with the musical called Chicago andBobFosse,itsco-directorandchoreographer. There are manyversions of this musical that were performedall over the world during the second half of the twentieth century. Maurine Dallas Watkins created the play in the 1920s and it was remade as the musical only in the 1960s, when the copyright was soldtoBob Fosse.Finally,in2002, Chicago was filmed withthe actors such as Renée Zellwerger, Richard Gere and Catherine Zeta Jones appearing in the leadingroles. The first part of the thesis deals with the basic introduction of the American musical and with some terms that are closely related to Bob Fosse’s work and are necessaryto beunderstoodinthecontextofthe thesis. The second section introduces Bob Fosse and his status in American musical theatre.However,inthis partI alsomentiontwoother men–JohnKander andFredEbb - whowere veryimportant for the musical theatre inthe time whenFosse created his bestworks. 3 The complexview of the musical Chicago basedonthe Czechtranslationof the libretto, translated by Ivo Havlů in 1978, is provided in the third part. Owing to the unavailabilityof the original libretto,I use Englishtranslations of citations inthe text andthe CzechversionI put intofootnotes.If words inthe film script correspondedwith wordsinthelibretto,thenIusedthemfortranslation.Theothercitationsweretranslated bytheauthor. The list of books and the links to the websites, which I used for mybachelor thesis, are included in the biography section. I also mentioned the film version of Chicago there. The appendixcovers short overviews of the most famous works byBob Fosse.It is an attempt at consisted presentation and evaluation of Bob Fosse´s work. The appendixalsoofferssummaryofTonyAwardsthatChicagoandBobFossereceived. 4 1. SHORT INTRODUCTION TO THE MUSICAL IN GENERAL The musical theatre is a type of theatre whichcombines music,dancing,songs andspokendialogues.Emotions suchas love,hate or anger,humour andthe storyitself are mediated to the public through words, songs, movements, and music as a whole. Costumes,lightening,backdrop andmake-ups are the other essential parts of a show. (http://en.wikipedia.org) Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, JerryHerman,LeonardBernstein,JohnKander,Andrew LloydWebber are some of the mainrepresentatives of the musical.LeonardBernstein,a composer,places the musical approximatelyinthe middle of the imaginaryladder of musical genres withvaudeville andrevueatthe bottom andoperaatthetop.(Osolsobě1974) The musical theatre is a result of merging of many different patterns from another genres suchas opera,ballad, variety,revue,jazz and vaudeville.The genre of the musical theatre developedduringthe whole twentiethcenturyandfrom a variety of elements andinfluences.The beginnings of the Americanmusical theatre were under Europeaninfluence.Plays imitatedtheir Europeanmodels.Duringdecades,this genre was maturing; themes were changing and reflecting the mentality of people. It was americanised.(Schmidt-Joos,p.2161) At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were “minstrels shows” - a mixture of dancing,songs andvarietyshow - andAmericanvaudeville whose heart was a comic performance.Vaudeville was verypopular comic theatrical genre withsinging in North America during the 1880s-1930s. However, “The origins of the term vaudeville are unclear.Some sources claim the wordwas a bastardisationof "voix de 5 ville," Frenchslangfor "songs of the town" –others sayit came from "vauxde Vire," fifteenthcenturysatiric songs written byOlivier Basselin, a native of the Vire valleyin Normandy.” 1 According to Osolsobě, the vaudeville meant usually satirical “song, that everybody knows” (Osolsobě 1974) in France in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. Over the time the original sense of vaudeville shifted from “an old song on whicha new text is composed” to“a new songonanoldtune”,later,throughthe means of theatre to situational comedy that developed from many entertaining styles (e.g. concert saloon, minstrels). (Osolsobě 1974, p.170178) At the end of the nineteenth century,vaudevillelostitsoriginal role.Itdidnotincludeanysongbutit wasstillcalled vaudeville.InAmerica,TonyPastor,whowantedtoopena varietybut witha family audience, reused the word vaudeville for his show instead of a disreputable word variety.It was a great success that attractedall possible classes andages.Pastor also gaveit contemporarymeaning–theatreofdiversity. According to Kenrick, other producers also became interested in this type of popular entertainment.Americanvaudeville was born(used) in1871withthe formation of “Sergeant’s Great Vaudeville Company” 2 inLouisville andtotallydifferedform its Frenchpredecessor.Americanvaudeville performance consistedof a series of unrelated acts andmarkedthe beginningof favourite pastime as bigbusiness. This was connected withthe growthof leisure time,taste anda number of middle class workers,whowere able toorganise sucha kindof entertainment.Its formationwas alsoinfluencedbythe improvingtechnologies, transportation,andcommunication.The aim of the authors was not onlythe entertainment but the revelationof the concrete moral offences insociety. 1 Kenrick, John. A History of The Musical Vaudeville. The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre, TV and Film [online] 2008. 20 January 2008. Available from http://www.musicals101.com/vaude4.htm 2 Vaudeville . Wikipedia.The Free Encyclopedia [online] 2003-2007. [cit. 2008-30-01]. Available <from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Vaudeville> 6 The audiences were verycloselyconnectedwiththe show because theywere not only the spectators but alsoactive participants itself –their shouts,silences or jeers shaped the acts. (Kenrick) Nazimova and Helen Hayes, Alfred Lunt, Lillie Langtry, J.M. Barrie,Arthur ConanDoyle,DavidBelasco,JackBenny,Sophie Tucker, George Burns, Marie Dressler,JackLondon,George M.Cohan, W.S.Gilbert and many other writers, actors, singer belong among the people who influenced the shape of vaudeville. (http://www.musicals101.com) Kenrickalsodiscusses the term burlesque,whichis closelyconnectedwiththe musical theatre and whichappears alsoinFosse´s work.Burlesque was knownalready inthe ancient times andits features canbe foundinoperettas,operas andmusicals. It refers to a varietytheatre.Its mainintentionis toridicule or belittle throughcomic or farce stories andsketches that oftenhave onlylittle value.Burlesque is considered to be an artistic piece containing exaggeration,irony, parodyand satire. This genre usually shows a variety of acts consisting of dancing girls, comedians, striptease artist, and singers. Minimal costumes, dialogues, dances andplot with sexual background,witty humour, sketches with almost no story linkage among acts are the main features that define burlesque.(http://en.wikipedia.org) Connectingthe aspects of “minstrels shows” andvaudeville,ledtodevelopment of another type: revue. Revue can be described as a “folding picture-book” full of music,dancing,songs,parodies,comic parts,interestinginterpreters andstars without a unifyingstory.Revues andthe development of jazz importantlyinfluencedthe character of the musical (first called musical comedy) that changed over time. Later, also classical,rockandmodernpop music playedanimportant role inconnectionwiththe musical theatre.New YorkBroadway(andits theatres) is the most important place for the progress ofthemusicaltheatre.(Schmidt-Joos,Osolsobě1974) 7 Inthe earlyyears of the musical,songs were its most important part because of their ability to attract the audiences. Later, a story also achieved importance. Kern Hammerstein´s Show Boat (1927) (Osolsobě, 1967, p.116), which describes the personal stories of actors wandering inMississippi anddealingwith racial matters, is consideredtobe the first andmost successful musical of all.As a result,manyother musicals where the songs followedthe storywere created.As the musical became more complex, a director (e.g. George Abbott, George Simon Kaufmann) who became responsible forthewhole performancecameonthescene.A directedmusicalcontained, andstill contains, a simple plot whichactors express not only through dialogues but also throughtheir dancing,singingandmovements.AccordingtoOsolsobě,all these aspects create the best musicals.Theyusuallydescribe the worldas it is andnot as it shouldbe. Theyalso create characters,illuminate their feelings,desires for success andthey show the confrontation of two opposite worlds. Many musicals deal with the topics where worlds of nobilityandservants are put incontrast as well as the played life andthe real life. West Side Story (1957),for example, is basedonmusical confrontation–American music versus music of Puerto Ricos and similarly, My Fair Lady (1956) shows the difference of Higgins’ and Lisa’s worlds: their language, emotions, dreams. (http://www.musicals101.com) The time from 1940s till 1960s can be calledthe golden age of the musical